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Sure, I have a beauty blog, but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped learning about makeup! I’m learning new things all the time! I always thought in college that the professors who felt that they knew everything about their subject were (a) full of it and (b) usually wrong in this belief. There is always more to learn about your favorite subject. Well…maybe if it’s Latin…

Anyway, today I have a top ten of beauty tips and tricks that I wish I’d discovered earlier in my beauty career. Some may be glaringly obvious to you (perhaps #3 in particular), but hey, life is a learning process! Read on and learn from my happy surprises and frustrating mistakes!

10. Salespeople are called SALESpeople for a reason. They’re in the store to get that cash out of your wallet and into the cash register. Some are quite honest, some will convince you to buy the wrong shade of foundation in order to make a sale. Trust your own opinion (or a trusted friend’s) first.

Bummer...NARS Night Star eyeshadow, picture from kaboodle.com

9. On a similar note: in all department stores and higher-end beauty stores, the lighting is designed to highlight the product’s appearance, but not necessarily how it looks on you. I learned this the hard way in high school (before Sephora’s new and AWESOME return policy) when I bought NARS‘ Night Stareyeshadow. I was seriously into sparkle then, and in-store, Night Star appears to be a flashy, glittery nude. At home, it was a mild, pearly match for my skintone. Lesson learned: try on what could be a fabulous product, and go outside into natural lighting to see if it is as wonderful as it appeared to be inside.

7. Feeling like a yeti but can’t place why? Trim your eyebrows. Brush them up (with a toothbrush if you want), trim with a manicure scissor, and return them to their original position. Fill in your brows with matching powder or pencil as needed – there, you look well groomed with a crazy amount of ease.

6. Most people that know me are well aware that I’d rather stay up late and hit the snooze button (fifteen times) instead of go to bed early in order to seize the day. I only learned a few months ago that if I go to bed with wet hair and wake up with a rat’s nest on my head the next morning, I can blow it out straight with little difficulty and a paddle brush.

You again?! Visine rules. (picture from crazycouponsavings.com)

5. Did your pot of cream eyeliner dry out? Add a few drops of Visine and stir with a toothpick – it’ll be as good as new. I did this with my SmashboxJet Set Waterproof Eyeliner and it was like I had only bought it a few weeks ago. (And from now on, put the cap back on or place the pot upside down on your vanity between application to each eye to prevent the product from drying out!)

4. Letting your skin soak up a moisturizer before you apply foundation makes all the difference, but combining that with a foundation brush for the first time is pretty much a religious experience.

3. You really can’t – and shouldn’t – give yourself a Brazilian wax, no matter how high you think your pain tolerance is. It’s not that high. Sure it is when you’ve paid for it, but not when you’re the one applying the wax. Leave it to the professionals, even though you may not want to spend the money: some things are worth paying for.

3 Responses to “Top Ten: Beauty Tricks I Wish I’d Learned Earlier”

Sometimes, liquid eyeliner ends up plastered to my the top of my eyelid when I blink. It a) makes me looks freakish, and b) removes the pigment from where it’s supposed to be.

I found that if you give your closed eyes a blast with the COOL setting on your hair dryer before you’ve “blinked,” it sets the eyeliner and doesn’t make a mess. Remember, use the Cool setting or else it might be uncomfortable.